CDS English Exam Paper – 9 February 2014

Combined Defense Services (CDS) English solved exam paper conducted by UPSC on 09 February 2014 available here. UPSC organizes CDS Exam twice in a year. This is a first CDS exam paper of year 2014. CDS exam will consist of three papers – English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics.

Exam Paper :— (CDS) English
Exam Organizer :— Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
Exam Date :— 09 February 2014

(See other paper of this exam – General Knowledge Paper)

CDS (English) solved exam paper (1^st) 2014

Synonyms

Directions– (Q. 1-10) In this section, you find a number of sentences, parts of which are underlined. For each underlined part, four words/phrases are listed below. Choose the word/phrase nearest in meaning to the underlined part and blacken the corresponding space on the answer sheet.

1. She is a woman of sterling qualities.
A. interesting
B. genuine
C. irritating
D. exciting

2. Although the boys in his class were naughty, he never resorted to corporal punishment.
A. harsh
B. physical
C. unjust
D. general

3. He wanted to mitigate his burdens.
A. lessen
B. increase
C. postpone
D. leave

4. She adjusted quite well with her husband’s idiosyncrasies.
A. peculiar habits
B. bad habits
C. weaknesses
D. stupid manners

5. The deputy inspector general made a perfunctory inspection of the police station.
A. thorough and complete
B. superficial
C. done as a routine but without interest
D. intensive

6. The decision to drop the atom bomb on hiroshima was a grave one.
A. serious
B. momentous
C. instinctive
D. impulsive

7. A scientist generally carries out his investigation empirically.
A. intuitively
B. verbally
C. through written communication
D. by observation and experiment

8. He is employed in an ordnance factory.
A. orthodox
B. arms and ammunition
C. electrical and electronic
D. ordinary and common

9. He is sycophant who tries to win over politicians.
A. a psychologist
B. an opportunist
C. an unscrupulous man
D. a flattere

10. I cannot believe in the veracity of his statement.
A. truth
B. usefulness
C. sincerity
D. falsity

Antonyms

Directions-(Q. 11-20) in this section, each item consists of a word or a phrase which is underlined in the sentence given. It is followed by four words or phrases. Select in word or phrase which is closest to the opposite in meaning of the underlined word or phrase.

11. kapil’ s bowling yesterday proved very costly.
A. economical
B. frugal
C. thrifty
D. expensive

12. I cannot see much likeness between the two boys.
A. enmity
B. hatred
C. difference
D. dislike

13. I am still dubious about that plan.
A. certain
B. doubtful
C. docile
D. faithful

14. The wise say that life is meant not merely accumulate wealth but for self realization.
A. amass
B. produce
C. scatter
D. gather

15. He will never turn down you request.
A. turn up
B. turn over
C. reject
D. accept

16. Real happiness does not lie in material posse-
A. physical
B. essential
C. spiritual
D. manual

17. I was upset by his hostile attitude.
A. friendly
B. positive
C. negative
D. inimical

18. Ashoke was a magnanimous king.
A. small
B. petty
C. kind
D. majestic

19. Mala is always defiant in her behavior.
A. obedient
B. rebellious
C. meek
D. friendly

20. I find his views repugnant.
A. amiable
B. repulsive
C. amoral
D. apolitical

Comprehension

Directions-(Q. 21-35) Read the following passages and answer the items that follow.

Passage-I

Those responsible for teaching young people have resorted to a variety of means to make their pupils learn. The earliest of these was the threat of punishment. This meant that the pupil who was slow, careless or inattentive risked either physical chastisement or the loss of some expected privilege. Learning was thus associated with fear. At a later period, pupils were encouraged to learn in the hope of some kind of reward this often took the form of marks awarded for work done and sometimes of prizes given at the end of the year to the best scholar. Such a system appealed to the competitive spirit, but was just as depressing as the older system for the slow pupil.

In the nineteenth century sprang up a new type of teacher, convinced that learning was worthwhile for its own sake and that the young pupil’s principal stimulus should neither be anxiety to avoid a penalty nor ambition to win a reward, but sheer desire to learn. Interest, direct or indirect, become the keyword of instruction.

21. The educational system which caused fear in the pupil’s mind was based on :
A. rewards
B. labour
C. punishment
D. competition

22. The system based on rewards satisfied all except :
A. the slow pupil
B. the very intelligent pupil
C. the laborious pupil
D. the casual pupil

23. The system which appealed to the competitive spirit in the pupils was largely based on :
A. punishment
B. marks
C. chastisement
D. cash prizes

Passage- II

On a surface which is free from obstacles, such as a clear or a path. Only two or three species of snakes can hope to catch up with a human being, even if they are foolish to try. A snake seems to move very fast but its movements are deceptive. In spite of the swift, wave-like motions of its body, the snake crawls along the ground at no more than the speed of man’s walk. It may, however, have an advantage inside a jungle, where the progress of a man is obstructed by thorny bushes. But in such places, the footsteps of a man are usually more than enough to warn snakes to keep away. Although they have no ears of the usual kind, they can feel slight vibrations of the ground through their bodies, and thus get an early warning of danger.

24. The snake has an advantage over men inside a jungle, because there :
A. it can crawl faster
B. it gest advance warning
C. man’s movement is obstructed
D. it is dark inside a jungle

25. What helps the snakes to receive advance warning is their sensitivity to :
A. obstacles in the path
B. smell of other beings
C. sounds made by other beings
D. movements of other beings

Passage- III

This rule of always trying to do things as well as one can do them has an important bearing upon the problem of ambition. No man or woman should be without ambition, which is the inspiration of activity. But if one allows ambition to drive one to attempt things which are beyond one’s own personal capacity, then one can do everything better than other people, then envy and jealousy, those twin monsters, will come to sadden one’s days. But if one concentrates one’s attention upon developing one’s own special capacities, the things one is best at, then one does not worry over much if other people are more successful.

26. Which one of the following statements is correct ?
A. there is a close relationship between ambition and activity.
B. ambition and activity belong to two different areas.
C. ambition is useless.
D. activity is responsible for ambition.

27. Which one of the following statements is correct ?
A. there is a close relationship between ambition and activity.
B. ambition and activity belong to two different areas.
C. ambition is useless.
D. activity is responsible for ambition.

28. The statements “if one allows ambition to drive one to attempt things which are beyond one’s own personal capacity, then unhappiness will result,” means that :
A. one must always try to do less than one’s capacity.
B. one must always try to do more than one’s capacity
C. ambition must be consistent with one’s capacity.
D. there should be no ambition at all.

29. Which one of the following statements best reflects the underlying tone of the passage ?
A. one must do everything as well as one can.
B. one must try to be better than others.
C. one must continuously worry about others.
D. one must try beyond one’s capacity to get results.

30. Which one of the following statements can be assumed to be true ?
A. it is good to imagine oneself better than others.
B. one should not imagine oneself always to be better than others.
C. all persons have equal capacity.
D. one should have more ambition than others.

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